VIB increases charter capital, readies for UPCoM listing

Vietnam International Bank (VIB) has recently completed all procedures to increase its charter capital and join the Unlisted Public Company (UPCoM) exchange.

Its charter was increased to VND5.64 trillion ($252.55 million) from VND4.85 trillion ($217.18 million) under a plan approved by the State Securities Commission (SSC) and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).

Shareholders passed a resolution at its annual general meeting in April to increase its charter capital and also passed a 16.5 per cent bonus share plan.

In recent years VIB has found favor among shareholders and investors for its high dividend payments: a 9 per cent cash dividend and 14 per cent bonus shares in 2014 and an 8.5 per cent cash dividend and 16.5 per cent bonus shares in 2015.

As required by the banking sector, both the cash dividend and bonus shares were approved by the SBV based on criteria such as non-performing loans being less than 3 per cent, proven transparency in operations, and solid business performance.

VIB’s shares are expected to attract special attention from a range of investors once on UPCoM.

VIB has been consistent in its prudent business development strategies. It has constantly retained a healthy growth rate in assets against increasing charter capital. The bank''s total assets of VND93.07 trillion ($4.16 billion) and a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of 14.46 per cent, with non-performing loans falling sharply to 1.49 per cent, according to its business report for the first ten months of this year.

VIB now has more than 4,000 employees serving 1.6 million personal customers and 34,000 corporate customers. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia, VIB’s strategic shareholder, is one of the world’s ten largest banks by market capitalization and has more than 100 years of history. It holds 20 per cent of VIB.